The cyber crime cell of Chandigarh Police has busted a gang that duped people after offering quick loans at low interest rates.
Three Delhi residents, Ritesh, Abhay Verma and Sumit, all aged between 21 and 25, who were operating a fake call centre to run the racket, have been arrested, said police.
The arrests came following a probe into a case registered on January 6 this year.
The complainant, Ram Chander Singh, had reported that he received a call from phone number 95402-44823. The caller introduced himself as a representative of Bajaj Finance and offered him a quick loan of ₹5 lakh.
Enticed by the offer, the complainant shared his documents, including PAN and Aadhaar card. Later, he was asked to deposit ₹27,400 for document verification, NOC certificate and processing fees. As the caller asked for more money, he realised that he had been cheated.
On the basis of technical support, police managed to track the accused and conducted a raid at Bhagwati Garden, Dwarka, Delhi, where a fake call centre was being run. All three accused were arrested from there.
Police said the accused pretended to be executives from Bajaj Finance, and called people, offering huge loans at a very low rate of interest. “Most of their targets fell in the trap and shared their documents. Further, on the pretext of processing fees, registration fees and other verification-related documents, these fraudsters would ask the target to deposit a certain amount. After receiving the amount, the accused used to switch off their numbers and get a new mobile number to target a new victim,” said an investigator.
“Abhay Verma is the mastermind of the racket and set up the fake call centre,” the police official added.